


One Day I'll Learn

by queen_scribbles



Series: Straight Up Truth [7]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 01:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16007318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Inspired by a friend on tumblr and That One Scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know the one.





	One Day I'll Learn

 

One day, Jaaide thought grimly, one day she would learn. Intel could only get you so far, rarely knew everything, and was usually wrong about _something_. Sometimes that something was small. Other times, like now, it was big enough to blow the whole mission to hell.

“They have a walker,” Theron groused, crouching further down in their shared hiding place. “They weren’t supposed to have a walker. Just ground troops.” He peeked out again and swore. “Alene and I will be having words about what _thorough_ means when we get back.” A laser bolt scored the wall above their heads. “ _If_ we get back.”

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Despite the protest, part of her wondered if he was right. Facing more enemy troops than anticipated was bad, but workable. A walker, though, she wasn’t sure what to do about that. The two of them on foot against a kriffing walker was... awful. Especially without the element of surprise.  “Theron...”

He looked over at her, both of them flinching as more blasterfire pocked the wall. “You can’t think of anything either, can y-” He cut himself off and risked another look out from behind the duracrete barrier that had sheltered them so far.

Jaaide brushed blood away from a small cut on her cheek. She knew that look.  “What?”

“That’s a remote walker. They’re gonna need a minute to warm it up, aren’t they?” Theron’s eyes darted around the hanger they needed to cross.

“Yes, but only _literally_ a minute,” she replied. _Please tell me you’re not-_

“I got an idea,” he said with a smirk.

_Of course you do_. “Hope it’s a good one.”

“Aren’t they always? Don’t answer that.” He grimaced apologetically. “Much as I hate to ask, think you could distract them for a few seconds?”

She nodded, yanking her holdout blaster from its boot holster. “Don’t die.”

The cocky grin was back. “Do m’best.” He stole a kiss and was gone.

Before their foes could start tracking him, Jaaide unclipped one of her last thermal detonators from her belt, primed it, and tossed it at a small cluster of gunmen. The explosion obliterated them and gave her an opening to spray blaster fire on the remaining troops. It was only a few seconds before they recovered enough to shoot back, but it was certainly an attention grabber. Jaaide alternated between hiding behind the duracrete and peppering her opponents with blaster bolts, scanning for Theron whenever she got the chance.

She finally found him, halfway up the scaffolding of the walker charging station, and almost swore. She knew what he was trying to do, and while it was a good idea, he was going to get himself killed. Already planning to give him an earful of the _We’re **both** supposed to get out of here alive_  variety, Jaaide primed and threw her last detonator, not even looking where it went. She just needed the explosion to distract anyone from noticing her idiot boyfriend as he yanked open a maintenance panel.

“Jaaide.” Theron’s voice crackled over her private comms and she dropped back behind the duracrete.

“What’re you _doing_?” she hissed back.

“Got a better idea?” he challenged. Five whole heartbeats passed as she tried in vain to come up with something less suicidal. “That’s what I thought. This’ll work, we’ll just have to take different routes out of here.”

“Theron-”

“I’ll meet you back at the ship.”

“ _Theron_ , no-”

He was already gone. Jaaide briefly considered comming back, but she didn’t want to distract _him_. She instead fired off one more spray of blaster shots into the array of enemies still standing. Even as they dove for cover, the walker lurched to life.

_Oh, stars._ Jaaide started mentally plotting an exit route that hopefully wouldn’t get her killed. Once her path was set, she cast one last look at the walker, its guns whining as they tracked for a target and started moving. _Sure wish my stealth generator hadn’t shorted out._ But it had, so she’d have to manage without. _One day I’ll learn to bring spares for that part._..

And the the walker fired. The massive energy bolt slammed into the hanger wall-- a good twenty feet behind her. The strafing laser bolts that followed were also aimed at the opposite end of the hanger. Jaaide grinned as she dodged from pylon to shipping crate, clinging to what shadows there were and avoiding any cover that looked potentially explosive. Of _course_ Theron had messed with the targeting systems in addition to whatever else he’d done.

She was almost to her door of choice when there was a loud clatter behind her, followed by the hideous whining shriek of metal bending ways it didn’t want to. The walker had tripped. She paused by the door for a moment to watch it teeter and crash down atop near a dozen of its allies.

And one fueling station. The initial fireball took out the walker, the fueling station, and almost all the remaining enemy troops. The secondary one blew open a good chunk of the hanger.

_Oh, **hell**._ Jaaide dropped to a crouch to avoid debris and pressed one hand to her comms. “Theron?!”

“...Well, that didn’t go as planned,” his voice came back. He sounded winded, and she heard him grunt in pain. “But it worked.”

“A little too well,” Jaaide shot back, heart racing. “I’m coming back-”

“No, I don’t want you getting caught if something else blows up.” He coughed, making her wonder how close he was to the reeking smoke spilling up from the destroyed fuel node. “I’m fine, Jaaide,” he insisted, despite the hitch in his voice that made her pretty sure he was lying.

_I’ll be the judge of that._ She growled in frustration. “And what if something else _does_ blow up? I don’t want to lose you, either.”

“I’m at a door. Just have to hotwire it and I’ll be out in a minute, tops. Nothin’ to worry about. I’ll see you back at the ship.”

Still growling her frustration at his heroics--but acknowledging he had a point--she smacked the door controls and darted out of the hanger. Her ship was just a short walk, in keeping with the (faulty) intel leading her to believe there wasn’t a large enemy presence here. Jaaide reached it in a matter of minutes and began pacing tight, nervous loops at the base of the boarding ramp. She’d only made it up to ten on so when the undergrowth rustled.

“You worry too much,” Theron commented as he came into view, looking rather worse for wear. Not as bad as Ziost, but pretty close.

“Only when you and explosions are involved in the same scenario,” Jaaide retorted, sighing slightly in relief. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Theron grinned wearily, and followed her up the ramp.

-<>-

It didn’t take long to get them up, cloaked, and heading as far away from this snafu as possible. Jaaide set the autopilot and went looking for Theron. To her mild surprise, he was actually in the medbay, rather than retreating to one of the crew bunks and pretending that was sufficient. It made her wonder just how much he hurt that she hadn’t had to shoo him in here.

“I rather distinctly recall telling you not to die,” she commented as she watched him gingerly shrug off his jacket. It looked singed, she noted, and frowned. 

“And?” he grunted, verging on testy. A hiss of pain escaped as he worked off his shirt with the same care as his jacket.

“ _This_ is almost exactly the opposite of what I meant,” Jaaide said, fighting to keep her voice level as she collected the diagnostic scanner, kolto injector, and bacta patches. _Lots_ of bacta patches.

“The key word there being ‘almost,” Theron pointed out. He shifted wrong and grimaced. “I’m fine, or will be.”

“This is not fine,” she snapped, lightly poking one of his fresh bruises as the scanner warmed up and did its job. Various cuts, burns, and a couple broken ribs tallied up on the screen. “It’s also far too common. Just _once_ could you have a good idea that doesn’t _almost_ ” -she sarcastically emphasized the word- “get you killed?!”

“Sorry, those are my specialty,” he shot back. “ _ **Ow!**_ ”

Jaaide instinctively snatched her hand back at his bark of pain, but then curled it around his arm again and pressed the kolto injector against his bicep(maybe less gently than she could’ve). “It’s your own fault. What, did you get yourself blown up?”

“....More or less. I wasn’t expecting the damn thing to trip,” Theron grumbled between clenched teeth. “Not that fast, at least. And definitely not on top of a kriffing fuel node.” He grimaced as she brushed another sore spot. “Ow.”

Jaaide hesitated, eyeing the locations of some of his injuries, and then scrambled up to kneel on the medbay table so she could reach. “I didn’t think you were. But these things keep _happening_ , Theron.” She smoothed a bacta patch over a cut on his shoulder and he flinched. “I’m getting really tired of your solutions meaning I have to do _this_.” Another bacta patch, this one over a burn on the back of his hand.

He hissed sharply. “Can’t say I’m a huge fan of it myself-ow-much as I enjoy your company- _ow_!”

His instinctive pulling away from her trying to apply a bacta patch over his broken ribs nearly cost Jaaide her balance. “Dammit, Theron!”

“It _hurts_ ,” Theron said defensively as she finished smoothing on the patch.

“I figured _that_ ,” Jaaide retorted sharply. Stars help her, she loved the man, but she was _this close_ to knocking him out to make him hold still “You’re a _mess_. Where _**doesn’t**_ it hurt?!”

“ _Here_ ,” he shot back, holding up the hand she hadn’t bandaged, palm toward her.

Her gaze flicked between in and his face briefly before she leaned in and very deliberately--defiantly--kissed the center of his palm. It was that or face down the rising temptation to bop him.

Theron blinked, fingers curling in as if to capture the lingering sensation as  he let his hand drop. The bandaged one rose to tap the corner of his jaw. “That’s not too bad.”

Jaaide grinned this time as she leaned in to kiss the spot he’d indicated. He was a smart man, so it was absolutely not a surprise when he shot her a look just shy of smirking and rested two fingers against his lips. She was a bit skeptical of the implicit claim they didn’t hurt, considering the cut that split the lower one. But maybe everything else hurt badly enough for that not to register. Not that it mattered. She gently cupped his jaw with both hands and kissed him.

There was a half second delay before Theron kissed her back, his bandaged hand rising again to cup the side of her face and card into her hair.

By the time they parted for air, Jaaide’s irritation had largely fizzled and the painkillers in the kolto had kicked in, making Theron significantly less touchy. That was good, considering Jaaide found a couple more cuts and another minor burn on the side of his neck she needed to bandage.

“You’re going to be more bacta than human,” she commented, bemused, as she carefully pressed a bacta patch over the burn on his neck.

“I’m used to it,” Theron joked, scratching at the edge of the patch.

Jaaide tried to smile, but couldn’t hold it long, gingerly running her thumb over a nasty bruise on his cheek. “I wish I wasn’t,” she whispered frankly. “I wish you getting _this_ beat up wasn’t a regular enough occurrence for me to be used to it. Every time it happens I worry I’m going to lose you, and Theron, I can’t...”

“Hey,” he said softly, covering her hand with his. “I’m still here, and I’m sorry for scaring you. Guess I’m still adjusting to the couple thing. Being part of one, I mean. I’ll try to work on that, and only be reckless and stupid when I absolutely have to.”

“Oh, of course, you wouldn’t be you if you stopped entirely,” Jaaide teased, pulling away and kissing his forehead before bandaging the last of his injuries. “If I tell you to rest and let the painkillers kick in, what are the odds of you listening to me?”

“Pretty decent, actually,” Theron replied around a yawn he was careful not to let get too wide. “The adrenaline’s wearing off and everything’s sore.”

“It must be, if you’re not going to argue at all,” she said with a fond smile as she climbed down from the table. “There’s always at least a token protest.”

“Maybe I’m trying to humor my girlfriend who wants me to be more careful,” he teased, kissing the top of her head before she could move away.

“Hmm, maybe she appreciates that,” she teased back, putting things away.

“Maybe I appreciate _her_.” Theron pulled his shirt back on even more gingerly than he’d taken it off. “Tell you what though, I’ll appreciate it even more if she lets me get some rest. Those _were_ medic’s orders.”

“Indeed they were,” Jaaide chuckled. She tugged him in for one last kiss before leaving the medbay. Theron headed for one of the crew bunks in search of a more comfortable bed and Jaaide to the cockpit to watch over the controls.

Her heart didn’t slow down until they were almost back to Odessen. One day she’d learn to be alright with the risks inherent in the job, the risks Theron took far too frequently in her opinion. But it probably wouldn’t be anytime soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a friend on tumblr and That One Scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know the one.


End file.
